


Images and Symbols

by Krachwarn



Category: Siren (TV 2018)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 16:45:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14981306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krachwarn/pseuds/Krachwarn
Summary: Ryn learns about the fascinating world of stored human sounds, realizing that it can be used to communicate with those she has promised to stay away from. To keep safe.





	Images and Symbols

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all!
> 
> I have wondered a lot recently about what skills Ryn would need most in order to fit into the society of Bristol Cove. She can, after all, not hide at Helen's forever....
> 
> After human interactive skills, writing has topped my list of important thing to know. After all, how would she otherwise be able to get a job, gather her own information, or properly understand abstract things without a guardian constantly present. This is my humble attempt to describe Ryn coming to terms with the (to her certainly) strange world of reading and writing.
> 
> In any case, it seemed an interesting notion to couple her learning literacy with trying to reach out to Ben, whom she has promised to stay away from. 
> 
> Enjoy!

“G….H….I…..” Maddie pronounced as Ryn looked on. 

The mermaid blinked, and then repeated what her friend had said. Maddie smiled and nodded.

“J…K….L…..”

The symbols on the white page looked like little insects, Ryn thought. Insects dried out in the sun. She knew now they were actually sounds. Stored sound. Stored human sounds.  
She doubled back to her work, marking them on another white sheet.

“J….K….L…”

The pencil she was holding was quite awkward to use, and always broke, but she thought she had gotten the hang of it. The trick was not to squeeze the pencil too hard.  
The paper ripped. She had pressed too hard again. Her eyes widened and she hissed in frustration.

“Don’t worry Ryn!” Maddie smiled. “Just try again.” Maddie briefly touched her hand.

The mermaid tried the symbol again, producing a rough copy of the one before her.  
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Maddie smiled on with encouragement.

She was astounded at how quickly Ryn was understanding the concept of writing. Most children took years to master this, yet Ryn was well on her way after about a week’s effort. Ryn’s petite figure belied a powerful, inquisitive mind.

“M….N…..O….” she continued, watching Ryn awkwardly mark the same letters on her page. 

It had only been a few weeks since the street fight and Donna’s death. Since Ben’s accident. Maddie could tell Ryn still mourned for what had happened, as she often blankly stared off into space, but she and Helen had been surprised at how quickly the mermaid had moved on.

Moved on, yes…. But to something else entirely.

Ryn had become increasingly impatient and snappy. As if she was waiting.

For what, Maddie did not know.

She began to pace a lot, fidget a lot, and hiss a lot. In a few days she had disassembled and reassembled a large part of Helen’s apartment. Though she helped out in the shop, and excelled at it, her mind was all too often idle. Maddie knew Ryn wanted out. Out to see the world.

But it was not safe. All of them knew that now.

The two locals had learned that Ryn needed more stimulation; that how things were going now was not good for her. She had the distinct demeanour of a stressed and trapped animal.  
Maddie idly wished she had more time to spend with Ryn, but her work and her mother were taking up large chunks nowadays. 

And Ben could not help. He need all his energies to work through his own problems.

Maddie and Helen had finally conspired to find something for Ryn to do which would put her mind at ease, and keep her from wearing everybody’s patience thin. To develop her as a human capable of one day taking part in Bristol Cove’s society. Writing had seemed the natural fit. Ryn had such an active mind that few things held her attention long after she had figured them out. The mermaid agreed to this instruction, but only after Maddie had explained that she could use it to “talk to Ben while staying away”. 

Maddie understood why that peaked her interest. 

Ryn missed Ben, but had promised to stay away from Him. For his good, she had said. 

It was all because of that song.

Maddie grunted, remembering how Ben had almost died because of it. She still had nightmares about that day and how it transpired. How they had learned that Decker had killed himself, and how they had frantically searched for Ben after they made the connection. Had it not been for Ryn, Ben might be dead right now.

Maddie shuddered.

Then again, he might never had been in danger in the first place either.

Maddie could not fault Ryn though. Ryn obviously hated herself for how things had turned out. She had just been trying to comfort Ben with something she reasoned Ben liked.  
It was actually Ben’s fault that he was in this predicament. He had asked for the song knowing what it did.

HOW COULD HE BE SO STUPID!?

Maddie’s thoughts calmed slowly after a crescendo of pain and anger.

Ben was not in his right mind, she rationalized slowly. He didn’t know what he was doing. The song was still playing with his thoughts.

Yes, that was it.

Maddie looked up. Ryn was looking at her with deep sad eyes. The mermaid was very intelligent and was able to pierce most disguises nowadays.  
She continued before Ryn could ask if she was alright.

“P……Q…..R….”

Despite her decision, it was obvious that Ryn still wanted to hear about Ben. She asked how he was doing every day.  
And so the writing began.  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

iamryn

Ryn Wrote. 

It didn’t look right. What had Maddie done?

Spaces! She tried it again.

i am ryn

Yes, much better.

Ryn enjoyed learning how to read and write. She had discovered it was being used all around her. There was writing on the lamp that said “Max 60 watt”, there was writing in the kitchen that said “Front, Back, and Hot Surface”. There was even writing on her clothes though she didn’t understand the symbols. She should ask Maddie or Helen.

And then there were pictures. 

Ryn had learned about pictures last week when Maddie had made some large symbols for her and had laughed, saying it was a bad drawing.

She had asked what a drawing was.

A whole new world unfolded for her. She could use the pencil to make things look like what she imagined! She was instantly fascinated by this and drew a fish. It looked nothing like what she wanted, but Maddie said that with enough practice, she would be great at it. She was doing a lot of drawing now. This was almost as good as words in communicating. It just took very long…

Back to her writing though.

i am ryn and i come from the sea

Maddie had given her lots of words to practice, and she loved writing them out. It was somehow calming to focus on one thing, instead of always worrying.  
Worrying about Ben. She had seen him three days ago, and he did not seem happy.

Maddie had said that Ben was not very well right now, and that she was concerned about him. Ryn worried about him too. She wanted desperately to go see him, comfort him, and make him better. But she couldn’t. She shouldn’t.

She had promised to stay away. For his safety.

She continued writing.

maddie and helen and ben are my friend they come from the land

She looked at it and sighed. It took a long time to get her sounds down, but this would get faster with practice, she reasoned.

Outside leaves were falling off the trees. Helen called this autumn; when the world got colder. Soon, she said, there would be white snow on the ground. That sounded ominous. And interesting. Ryn looked out, spying seagulls and black birds Maddie called crows. It seemed they were talking. 

Ryn idly wondered if crows could talk to her too. She missed talking to Ben.

She looked down at her sheet and stared.

She had been drawing again. It looked like a man. She could tell because it had a hairy face and kind eyes. Eyes like Ben’s.

O well, she thought.

She added land around it. Trees and houses and the sun. And a woman.

Maddie.

Inspiration gripped her for a second, and she quickly drew the ocean. In it she put a picture of her and some of her people. She drew the coral spires where she lived, and the vents of hot water, adding the currents they made. She added some fish, and of course her favourite eight leg.

Hmm, she wondered. The sea was as light as the sky. That was not true. She began to shade in the ocean.

She looked at her result. It was…… recognizable. A small glimmer of a smile crossed her lips.

Yes, that would be good.

this is a picture of maddie and ben and helens home and ryn and sisters home bens home by the sea thank you Maddie for teach me how to make these sounds i like today helen make food called stirfri it was good she took me to store  
She wrote. 

Once she was finished she added a quick Hello Maddie to the top and then looked at it intensely. It looked...good. Hopefully it made sense. She felt a sudden warmth in her face. Was it correct? She didn’t actually know. She would ask Maddie later if she understood her sounds.

Hope warmed her cheeks. If she mastered this… then she could….

She idly dreamed of writing for ben.  
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Maddie and Ryn sat side by side in Helen’s apartment, reading a children’s book called “The Paper Bag Princess”. Maddie could remember this book from her elementary school years and had enjoyed it then. She realized that the subject would be a little weird for Ryn, but to her delight, Ryn began to read.

“Th-eer-ee w-aa-ss a prinke-ss nam-ed Eleess-abeth… She pronounced.

Maddie smiled and corrected one mistake.

W-H-ooo was go-eennng to maarree a prink nam-ed Ron-ald.

This was going very well, Maddie thought.

They read through the entire book. On every page Ryn first looked at the picture and asked Maddie a question.

“Is a Dragon real?” she asked on page 4.

“No, Ryn. Dragons are not real.”

“How can Dragons breathe fire?” she asked on page 7.

Maddie answered what she could. It was fun to watch Ryn puzzle out the English language while also analyzing the content of the book. She was so clever. Soon they would be able to go to harder books such as her Nancy Drew collection.

Finally the last question came.

“Maddie, what is Marriage?”

“Ahh”, Maddie stuttered. “Marriage… is when two people love each other and choose to live together.”

Maddie knew she had missed something in the definition, but was floored by Ryn’s quick response.

“Why are you and Ben not Marriage anymore? I stay away to help.”

Maddie blushed. That’s what she had missed.

“Well, Ryn. Marriage is a ceremony to celebrate wanting to love and live together” she slowly said.

“As for Ben and I. We are working things out. I still love Ben and He still loves me, but… things are… complicated. That is not your fault.”  
Ryn’s eyes lowered.

“I am sorry Maddie” she finally whispered. “I want you to be marriage with Ben again”.

Maddie blushed and hugged her.

“Nothing to be sorry about Ryn. These thing happen. Don’t worry, we will be better soon.”

She gave the mermaid a quick peck on the check. The two then chose another book to read.  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ben sighed as he stumbled out of bed. His head hurt and his eyes felt raw.

Another sleepless night. He wondered how many of these there had been. Too many…

No matter... He would fight the song as best he could.

He rubbed away the night and the dreams it had brought.

Ben slowly made his way towards the shower and turned it on, relishing the water running over him. He had a long day today at the rescue centre, and wanted to at least look like he was ready for it. He wanted to look good for Maddie. A few minutes later, he was dressed and nicely trimmed; sitting at the breakfast table, pouring out some cereal. 

He sighed, rubbing his eyes. This was going to be a long day. He slowly rubbed his temples. After a few minutes, he glanced at the clock.

It was time. He got his lunch ready and found his keys. Yawning, he opened his front door.

And stumbled over a small rock with a paper tucked under it.

It took a moment to register what he was looking at.

“Who would….” His mind began to race. Then suddenly realisation struck.

SHE had been here? 

It must have been Ryn. It had her unique touch on it. She had left him a note? She could write? Since when? Instinct took over and he looked around.

She was definitely not there anymore. She must have been up very early to bring it over. Grabbing the rock, he gently lifted it and collected the paper. It was damp, as if it had been outside for some time.

He gently unfolded it and read.

Hello Ben.

This is Ryn. I am good. I am stil at Helens house and am help her with the shop. Maddie comes often two and we read good books. I think she is happy but she is sad for you. She want you to be happy. Me two. I am learn to read and write to talk to you. It is fun. Yesterday we went to a shop to buy clothes. I could read the sines. Maddie baught a dress for me! 

How are you? Maddie says you are ok. I just want to check. I promised that I would stay away to help you get better. I mean until you are better. Then we can see us again. I am waiting happy for that day. I miss you.

I am draw a picture for you about my old life in the ocean. 

Love you

He was speechless! Ryn could write! And read!? His moist eyes looked over the picture, which was of a cliffs and some holes in it. They seemed to be houses? The water around them was filled with what looked like coral and fish. And merfolk. Shafts of light seemed to come down from above. The whole pictue had been carefully shaded to make it look dark.

He smiled. This picture was really good. Ryn could draw!

Something tickled his mind, and he scanned back over the letter.

“I mean until you are better” he read. 

His smile widened. He knew what she was trying to say.

“I am waiting happy for that day. I miss you.”

Ben’s smile shone out. Ryn missed him and was saying she would wait for him. For him to get better. Warm comforting feelings flooded his mind.

Tucking the letter carefully into his wallet beside his picture of Maddie, he got into his Jeep and drove to work.

The smile stayed with him all day.

**Author's Note:**

> :)
> 
> Hope this made sense. I think that if I were in Ryn's shoes, I would probably be motivated to learn an abstract human thing if I knew that it could be used to communicate without physically being there. I am somehow always tempted to want to relate her picture of writing to a whale song.... but anyways.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Please tell me what you think of this! How would you picture Ryn learning reading and writing? Would they show it in the tv show (I say no but...)?
> 
> * Side note: I am somewhat sad that Ryn's writing could not be expressed in this program using different writing styles. A great part of the joy in writing this for me was doing Ryn's written parts in some obscure squiggly word program writing (I used Bradley Hand ITC). It really made it look like a child trying to master letters. Reminds me of Einhart's commenting on Charlemagne..... seuf!


End file.
